RomanPunks is a retrofuturistic, cyberpunk derivative world-building project inspired by fine art, history and the cryptopunk movement.
A total of 1,000 RomanPunk characters have been frozen in time and minted as Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum, WAX, Polygon and Algorand blockchains.
RomanPunk characters are comprised of commoners and famous individuals based on Roman history, art history and pop culture.
The basis for RomanPunk lore and backstories is exhaustively researched by history/sci-fi buff and co-founder, Punktavian.
All images are drawn by hand by woman artist and co-founder, Cleopunktra, without the aid of AI or generative tools.
RomanPunks came into existence through early minting on OpenSea, promoting on Twitter and building a Discord community through giveaways and engagement. The idea of a cyberpunk-derivative ‘RomanPunk’ theme was in our heads for years, but it was the success of the Cryptopunks that became the catalyst for project conception and launch.
After a hard working first 60 days spent networking and attracting new collectors to RomanPunks, our community had begun to flourish and sales increased. We began to offer our collectors an opportunity to battle their NFTs in a tournament bracket powered by dice rolls.
Encouraged by the tight knit community and the carbon-neutral blockchain with lightning fast and low cost transactions, we launched 'romanpunksio' collection on WAX Blockchain as the first step to expand the backstories of our RomanPunk characters and the baseline for future development of a card game.
RomanPunks integrated with Chainlink Labs to utilize VRF (Verified Randomness Function) to host a giveaway raffle for our holders. We developed a smart contract on Ethereum which guarantees true random number selection on chain and can be used for a wide range of functions that require random selection.
After much anticipation in the community, we released our first WAX NFT card 'pack' through the Neftyblocks platform, which sold out in less than a week.
We launched our Twitch channel and begun building an audience by offering numerous giveaways of WAX NFTs from our collection, as well as giving participants a chance to win RomanPunk ETH NFT airdrops for taking top spot at the end of the 'season'.
As firm believers in a metaverse future and land owners in The Sandbox, we undertook to build the RomanPunk Colosseum on 1x1 land and entered our experience "Gladiator Bloodsport" into a GameJam contest. We will continue to build the Colosseum into a PVP arena and social hub once The Sandbox offers creators the ability to do so.
Thanks to the user friendly tools offered by NeftyBlocks, we launched a comprehensive blending system on WAX, allowing our collectors to blend the common NFTs they earn in our Discord RPG up into Legendary famous NFTs through the use of blending 'coins' that can also be earned on the Discord as reward for helping to promote the RomanPunks project.
We launched the VX collection on Polygon. Each owner of an ETH NFT gets their voxel equivalent airdropped to them, and these NFTs can be redeemed for official NFTs on The Sandbox Marketplace once available.
All 1,000 original, unique 1:1 RomanPunk characters hand drawn by Cleopunktra and minted on OpenSea.
The RomanPunk WAX NFT Trading Card Fighter Pack Series II consists of 3 NFTs randomly selected from over 236 characters.
Upcoming plans for RomanPunks include:
Below is a comprehensive and searchable directory of all 1,000 RomanPunk Characters.
Born 379 BC in Pella, Electra taught Alexander the Great about killing and lovemaking until his jealous mother, Polyxena, had her cast into a pit of vipers and erased from history. Legend has it that she escaped through a subterranean interdimensional portal.
Born in 48 AD in Ravenna, Eunice is an expert knife fighter who is known to have killed dozens of men in self defense before joining the IV Legion. Loyal to Otho, she participated in the assassination of Emperor Galba, but was later forced to flee into an interdimensional portal to escape capture by Vitellius.
Born 375 AD in Alexandria, Anka was a temple guard and student of the mathematician Hypatia. Unable to prevent Hypatia’s murder by Christian zealots, Anka embarked on a pilgrimage through space and time seeking truth and justice.
Born 1113 AD in Cemenelum in an alternate steampunk dimension, Marina is a wreck diver and sailor on the Aqua Aeterna, the world’s first steam-powered submarine, whose mission is to find the lost city of Atlantis. Guided by the clues left by Plato and Seneca, the ship’s crew ventured into the Aztec Gulf, where Marina uncovered an interdimensional portal nestled on the ocean floor.
Born 383 AD in Toletum, Amala, the spoiled daughter of an affluent lord, is more interested in sticking it to the man than settling down with a man.
Born in 2180 AD in Syracusae, Vittoria is an enigmatic merchant who carved a niche in Neo-Carthage’s “Bizarre Bazaar”, trading in the exotic and macabre: flesh-eating zombie pets. Her passion for reviving the dead began when she discovered an ancient pet cemetery near Dougga while burying her beloved horse. Wealthy and insouciant, Vittoria is known for her sarcastic charm and love of the herb. Though apolitical, she thrives in the chaotic markets of Neo-Carthage, where her eerie wares attract a diverse clientele.
Born 155 AD in Leptis Magna, Vitus was a prodigious scholar who opened an interdimensional portal at the Temple of Dolichenus after reciting some incantations from an ancient Phoenician scroll. Now, he explores the labyrinth of parallel universes with the daunting task of unraveling the mysteries of space time’s greatest civilizations and recording their legacies on an immutable ledger that spans the multiverse.
Born in 2261 AD in Seia, Sennian spent his youth piloting luxury space liners alongside his father, traveling the solar system in opulence. When his parents were brutally murdered by cyborg mafia assassins, he inherited a modest fortune but was left driven by vengeance. Now a charismatic cyberchariot racer in the Hypodrome, Sennian channels his skill and swagger to win the crowd’s favor while secretly funding a Lusitanian independence movement led by a clone of the ancient revolutionary leader Viriathus.
Born 2101 AD in Alexandria, Anubis is a street artist and tech scavenger who rebels against the Roman regime through his clever use of AR murals depicting the splendour of ancient Egypt. With his loyal cyborg dog Sobek by his side, Anubis fights for freedom while striving to preserve his heritage in a world overshadowed by Roman oppression. His art serves as a beacon of resistance.
Born 2010 AD in Alalia, Kael is the silver-spoon heir of a techno-aristocratic family with deep Roman and Punic roots. Restless within his luxurious cybernetic world, he sought adventure beyond his privileged life. During a voyage across the Tyrrhenian Sea with his love, Sienna Elara, a sudden whirlpool transported them to an alternate Roman realm dominated by sentient apes. Stripped of status, Kael must navigate a society where humans are subjugated, forging uneasy alliances with sympathetic apes and confronting the authoritarian simian rulers. His wit and resilience are tested as he strives to survive, challenge the oppressive ape hierarchy, and find a way back home.
Born 2161 AD in Tingis, Sabria was sold into servitude to a Roman senator obsessed with ancient Numidian texts. He gave her a gold monocle to read for him—she used it to learn for herself. In Neo-Carthage, she moves through elite circles unnoticed, feeding intelligence to the resistance. At a cursed relic auction, she drew in Velia Vulfric—the flippant socialite with a taste for the macabre—whose curiosity she gradually turned into complicity, and perhaps something more…
Born 55 BC in Chang’an, Kai Ren is the Qin Emperor’s first daughter and ancestral brain of the Xinhan Megacorp, a hegemonic power operated by an AI hive mind. Held hostage by time traffickers in 2411 AD Neo-Byzantium, she spends her time playing ancient CRPGs and denigrating her cyborg servant jailers.
Born 55 BC in Babylon, Shamma is a gifted lyre player who was abducted by time traffickers, brainwashed and forced to perform in a karaoke band in 26th century AD Neo-Byzantium.
Born in 49 BC in Amaseia, Voxia and her twin brother Nico were abandoned by their paranoid father and raised by dimension crossing brigands who trained them as deadly killers. Bitter and resentful of her father, Voxia is known to have clawed off the face of any man who dared try to rape her.
Born 2185 AD in Corduba, Xylo is an interdimensional RTS gaming prodigy and former techno-slave who hacked his way to freedom. Cocky and self-absorbed, Xylo lived only for the thrill of the game until a rebellion led by a cloned Hannibal Barca tried to recruit him in the fight against the cyborg Emperor Caligula. Not wanting to jeopardize his lucrative career, he refused, until a scandal contrived by a corrupt governor shattered his reputation. Now, with nothing left to lose, Xylo reluctantly joins the fight, piloting a Xena-class mech in the battle for Neo-Carthage. Xylo plays by his own rules, driven less by loyalty than by the thrill of proving that the system is his to control—and burn.
